Flag and staff novelty item



June 23, 1964 H. H. .1. PAULINI FLAG AND STAFF NOVELTY STEM Ffiled OCC. l, 1962 l Eug United States Patent O 3,38,2/t9 FLAG AND STAFF NGVELTY ITEM Harry il. Ll. Paolini, i316 W. 87th St., New York 24, NSY. Filed (ist. l, 1962, Ser. No. 227,372 Ciaims. (Cl. Zim-47) This invention relates to a novelty item. Y

It is an object of my invention to provide a novelty item comprising a flag iiying from a candy-nlled transparent staff, wherein the flag is securely attached to the staff and yet so mounted that substantially the entire staff and its contents are exposed to View.

It is an ancillary object of my invention to provide a harness for securing a flag to a transparent candy-filled staff in a novelty item which harness securely attaches the flag to a portion of the staff, yet exposes the greater part of the staff and its contents to View.

It is a further object of vmy invention to provide a novelty item of the character described which is gayly colored and attractive in form, which encourages a childs play, which forms a novel container for candies, trinkets, and other small merchandise items, and which easily dispenses its contents.

It is another object of my invention to provide a novelty item of the character described which serves as an attractive sanitary container for small candies for a child, which makes the child the happy possessor of a large amount of small candies, which allows the child to play with and continually view the entire quantity of these candies while they are held within the transparent container, and which will allow the child to easily remove a few candies from Within the container.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a novelty item of the character described which is a low cost highly salable plaything for children, which utilizes economical materials, is simple in construction, is capable of rapid mass production, and which is tough and not prone to breakage in childs play.

I have invented a novel frag and staff plaything, having a look-throng feature which is highly desirable when incorporated in my device. My novelty item is a gayly colored flag flying from a transparent candy-filled staff. It might be thought that the flag encircles a portion of the staff, orly allowing the remainder of the staff and its contents, not blocked by the liag, to be viewed. My flag and staff item however, is not subject to this restriction; it is so arranged that practically all of the staff and its contents, even in the area where the iiag is attached to the statt, is visible.

Small children have always found'transparent candyfilled containers to be highly attractive playthings. This pleasure is given because the child feels that he is the owner of a large amount of small candies, which are in his immediate and entire possession. This possessory feeling is enhanced and stimulated by the fact that the child can always see the quantity of such items that he owns. Such a visual sensory connection is of great irnportance and direct impact to the mind of a youngchild and would be lost if the flag blocked off the portion of the staff to which it was secured. To a childs mind this portion of the staff could not be relied upon to furnish candy and the item would, to that degree, be less desirable. In addition to this sensation of possession, an economica] yet highly attractive play item is provided for the child. He can twist and turn the transparent container, and watch the candies contained within it tumble back and forth. The candies form and color can be made highly attractive to train the childs' vision. When a gayly colored pennant or flag is attached to the transparent candy filled container, a highly desirable ag and staff plaything is produced, offering many hours of child amusement, and due to the fact that the child will always get a renewed ice feeling of possession upon again seeing the contents of his flag and staff toy, will repeatedly amuse the child during many periods of play.

It then being highly desirable to allow view of substantially the entire staff and its contents for the aforementioned reasons, while still attaching a flag to the sta, I have devised an exemplicative arrangement by which these two objectives can be mutually accomplished. I pro vide a harness which, while securing the flag to a portion of the staff, allows view of a substantial part of this portion and its contents. This is the look-through feature previously mentioned. This provision allows the addition of a gayly colored highly attractive ag to the staff, while not blocking any appreciable part of the staff and its contents from view. The ag never fully hides the contents of the container. When the child is given my candy-lled flag and staff item as a present, he will be happy to see that it is packed full to the top, since the flag with its associated harness does not block any appreciable portion of the staff and its contents from view. What little structure is necessary to hold the flag to the staff does not deter from this pleasing visual appearance, since the harness allows a substantial partial view of the staff and its contents, enabling the childs mind to visualize a full column of candies. Y

When the child has removed, as for eating, a quantity of the sweets, he can twist the staff back and forth, causing the candies by virtue of their own gravity to slide back and forth within the tube. My invention allows continuous view of these candies within the transparent container as they shift back and forth-the candies never disappear from sight by being blocked by the flag.

Other objects of my invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the novelty item hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown one of the various possible embodiments of my invention,

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a ag and staff novelty item constructed in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is an Vexploded isometric view of the principal structural components of the novelty item, the staff being broken away to conserve space for illustration;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal cross-sectional view of the item, the same being taken through the center of the staff along line 3*-3 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged transverse cross-sectional view of the item, the same being taken along line 4 4 of FIG. 3.

In a preferred form of my invention I provide an elongated transparent hollow sturdy tubular staff of uniform cross-section. The transparent staff contains a column of small candy or other pieces, which, due to the transparency of the staff, is continuously exposed to view. The staff is closed at both ends to entrap the mentioned small pieces. A flexible, limp flag is utilized with the staff, and is connected to the staff by a harness which encircles a portion of the staf and is fast to the ag. The harness has a series of slots which expose to view a major part of said staff portion, enabling a user of my item to ,con-

tinuously view almost the entire staff and its contents.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral lll denotes a novelty item which is the subject of the instant invention. The novelty item includes a staff 12 by which the item is most commonly gripped and can be conveniently handled by a user. The staff 12 is an elongated hollow transparent slender tubular member of uniform cross-section.

In a specific embodiment of my invention, I have found that I can secure satisfactory results by utilizing a staff having a 1/2" outside diameter, with a 1/16 thickness for its wall 14. This size staff can be pleasantly and easily gripped by a childs hand and provides a light weight part. A lA wall thickness gives sufficient strength to the staff to resist breakage from a childs play, yet is thin enough to have a sizable inner diameter within the staff to serve as a container. A 14 length for the staff in combination with the above-mentioned diameter gives an attractive length-to-diameter ratio for this item. To further enhance its appearance, the staff may be formed from material which is lightly colored or tinted, or the staff itself may be otherwise decorated to make it more appealing both to purchaser and user.

The statt 12 is preferably formed with a uniform crosssection. A circular cross-section has been utilized in the preferred embodiment, since this form will allow ease in assembly of the completed item, but triangular, square or other nongeometric shaped cross-sectioned tubes may be substituted without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Rigid transparent synthetic thermoplastic resins such as polyacrylates, polystyrenes, and cellulose acetates may be formed as by extrusion to yield a suitable rigid transparent rigid tube. A cellulose acetate butyrate plastic also makes a valuable transparent staff.

The staff has contained Within it contents 15 comprising merchandise items 16, which by way of example may be small candy pellets, buckshot candy, or a candy product commonly known as nonpareils. Other similar items as small gum balls, peanuts, or other confectionary iterns can be placed within the container. Further, small trinkets, as small stamped plastic animals, may be placed in the stal and mixed with the confectionary items to further appeal to small children. The staff also may be readily dimensioned to serve as a coin holder in which a sum of money may be given to a child, or for use as a savings bank in which the child can store his money. It will be appreciated that my invention may be readily adapted to any use where a long transparent container and flag is desired for use as a childs toy.

The items 16 can be readily loaded into the staff 12 by hand, or, if desired, by machine. Special attention should be given to the color and form of these contained items, since these qualities are continually visible throughout the length of the staff and can aid in the attractiveness and salability of the novelty item.

Two stopper means are provided to close the opposite ends of the staff. At least one of these stopper means is detachably secured to the associated end of the stai to allow selective ready access to the contents 15. In the illustrated embodiment, these stopper means comprise a pompon 18 which acts as a top plug, and a bottom plug 20. The pompon `18 is composed of multiple short ber strands and has a compressed cylindrical portion 22 cemented into the interior end surface of the stall 12. The outer external ends of the strands are trimmed and shaped to form a roughly spherical portion 24 protruding externally from the staff. This spherical portion serves as a decorative feature enhancing the appearance of the novelty item, and can also serve as a handle for placing the compressed cylindrical portion of the plug into the tube interior as an aid in factory assembly.

The bottom plug 2t) has a cylindrical portion 26 having a diameterA substantially equal to the interior diameter of the 'stad 12, so that the cylindrical portion can be slid into and held in frictional engagement within the inner surface of an end of the staff. The plug also has a protuberance 27 extending externally from the staff, which can serve as a decorative addition, and can also serve as a handle for use by a child in opening the container so as to provide ready access selectively as desired to the contents 15. Wood, plastic, or pressed cardboard are suitable materials for the manufacture of the bottom plug. Both plugs can be colored or otherwise decorated.

There are numerous other devices and materials from which closure means can be effected, these forming a supplemental rather than a primary feature of my invention. Plastic caps, hinged members, or tape wrapping are some of the numerous methods and devices which may be functionally substituted for the stopper (closure) means I have described.

Attached to the staff 12 is a flexible limp ag 28. This Hag or pennant has its ily (the length of the extended flag from its staff) of substantially greater dimension than its hoist (the height of a flag). The ag is preferably colorful and opaque, so that it may be a decorative addition to the statt. The iiag is exible and limp in order that it may iiap or wave when the staff is moved by the user. When the staff is held still the flag 28 will naturally droop in imitation of the movement of a larger flag. In a preferred form, the ag is made from a thin flat vinyl plastic sheet which can be attractively colored, and can be easily wiped clean when dirty. Other materials also valuable are felt and cloth. Any of these materials may be further decorated by adding designs thereto as by stenciling or imprinting. ln this form, the item 10 may be used as an advertising giveaway or premium, either or both faces 29 of the flag bearing the legend or picture desired by the advertiser.

A harness 30 provides means for attaching the ag 28 to the staff 12 in a manner suitable to the objects of my invention. The harness in a preferred embodiment is flexible and is readily formed in one-piece from a thin flat rectangular opaque colored sheet of material. The harness has flat end sections or portions 32 secured to a marginal proximal end section 36 on the face of the flag and a middle section 34 encircling the staff. The middle section 34 is in frictional but not tight engagement with the staff 12, so that the ilag stays in place, that is, will not by itself move axially along the staff during casual play, but will slide to a new position on the staff when deliberate effort is expended to so locate it. The middle section 34 of the harness 30 has one or more closed spaced slots 38 each with a dimension transverse to the longitudinal axis of the staff approximately the same as the circumference of the staff 12. It is seen that the slot or slots 38 expose a substantial part of the portion of the staff by which the harness 30 attaches the flag 28 to the staff and the ailiated contents 15 therein. In a preferred form, there are a series of parallel equal and equidistantly spaced slots 33 transversely disposed and each having a length approximately the same as the circumference of the staff. The slots 38 are located between and the ends of the slots are defined by the end portions 32.

The harness thus has vacant (open) areas adjacent the periphery of the staff which expose to continual view the staff and its contained merchandise items. These vacant areas are defined by a series of parallel rungs 40 transversely disposed to the longitudinal axis of the staff. When the harness end portions 32 are secured to the flag, the rungs girdle the staff so that they act as circular rings which hold the ag to the staff.

The harness may be made of any appropriate material, e.g. the same material as that used for the flag 28. The harness may be colored differently from the flag presenting a pleasing two tone effect between these members.

The end portions 32 of the harness 30 may be joined to the marginal proximal end section 36 of the face 29 of the flag by various means, as for instance, stapling, riveting, stitching, sewing, or adhesive sealing. It has been found convenient to join each harness end portion 32 to an opposite broad face 29 of the ag 28. The ends of the harness may be heat sealed over their overlapping co-extensive areas to the faces 29 of the flag when both are made of compatible thermoplastic materials.

A convenient manner for placing the harness about the statt and joining the harness to the ag is by utilization of a support in which there is provided a groove of semicircular section designed to receive at least that portion of the length of the staff engaged by the harness. First a harness is placed over this groove with its rungs 40 centered on and crossing over the same and `then a staff is positioned over and pressed down on the harness on top of the groove. The groove has a depth approximately the same as the radius of the staif. When the staff is pressed down on the harness into the groove, the harness ends will swing upwardly clasping the staff and extending upward away from the support and somewhat beyond the staff. A pair of heated sealing jaws are mounted for reciprocal movement above and towards and away from the vertical plane passing through the center line of the groove. When the marginal proximal end section of the face of the flag is placed between the extended ends of the harness, the sealing jaws are moved together, sealing the harness to the flag between them.

It thus will be seen that I have provided a novelty item which achieves the several objects of my invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A flag and stalf novelty item comprising an elongated hollow transparent tubular staff of uniform crosssection, said staff being composed of a transparent sturdy synthetic plastic material, contents comprising a column of small merchandise items contained within the staff, a flexible limp opaque flag having its fly of substantially longer dimension than its hoist, means attaching a marginal proximal end section of said flag to said staff, said attaching means comprising a one-piece flexible harness having a middle section encircling and frictionally engaging a portion of the staff and having flat end sections overlapping and secured to the face of the ag, said middle section having plural spaced slots closed by the end sections, each slot having a dimension between the end sections and transverse to the longitudinal axis of the staff approximately the same as the circumference of the staff, said slots thereby exposing a substantial part of said staff portion and its contents to view, and closure means for closing the ends of the staff, at least one of said closure means being constructed and arranged to allow selective ready access to said contents.

2. A flag and staff novelty item as set forth in claim 1, wherein each harness end section is joined to the marginal proximal end section on a different opposite broad face of the flag.

3. A flag and stair novelty item as set forth in claim 2, wherein the harness end sections are sealed to the marginal proximal end section of the flag.

4. A flag and staff novelty item as set forth in claim 2, wherein the harness end sections are heat sealed to the marginal proximal end section of the flag.

5. A flag and staff novelty item as set forth in claim 1 wherein all the slots are of like dimension and contour and are elongated circumferentially of the staff, each slot being located between and having its ends closed by the end sections and having its longest dimension transverse to the longitudinal axis of the staff.

6. A flag and staff novelty item `as set forth in claim 1, wherein the harness is a thin flat flexible piece of synthetic plastic material.

7. A flag and staff novelty item as set forth in claim 1, wherein the slots of the harness are defined by a set of preformed parallel spaced rungs transverse to the longitudinal axis of the staif and joined to the end sections.

8. A ag and staff novelty item as set forth in claim l, wherein the harness includes plural members functionally integral with the marginal proximal end section of the flag encircling the stati portion and mutually spaced along the length of said portion and defining the slots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,475,588 Lozowsky Nov. 27, 1923 1,631,566 Walton lune 7, 1927 2,349,761 Schroeder May 23, 1944 2,395,006 Leslie Feb. 19, 1946 2,688,303 Leander Sept. 7, 1954 2,697,042 Lemrow Dec. 14, 1954 2,856,891 Solomon Oct. 2l, 1958 2,882,170 Stewart Apr. 14, 1959 2,905,140 Acklam Sept. 22, 1959 2,968,890 Nisco Jan. 24, 1961 3,069,006 Snell Dec. 18, 1962 

1. A FLAG AND STAFF NOVELTY ITEM COMPRISING AN ELONGATED HOLLOW TRANSPARENT TUBULAR STAFF OF UNIFORM CROSSSECTION, SAID STAFF BEING COMPOSED OF A TRANSPARENT STURDY SYNTHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL, CONTENTS COMPRISING A COLUMN OF SMALL MERCHANDISE ITEMS CONTAINED WITHIN THE STAFF, A FLEXIBLE LIMP OPAQUE FLAG HAVING ITS FLY OF SUBSTANTIALLY LONGER DIMENSION THAN ITS HOIST, MEANS ATTACHING A MARGINAL PROXIMAL END SECTION OF SAID FLAG TO SAID STAFF, SAID ATTACHING MEANS COMPRISING A ONE-PIECE FLEXIBLE HARNESS HAVING A MIDDLE SECTION ENCIRCLING AND FRICTIONALLY ENGAGING A PORTION OF THE STAFF AND HAVING FLAT END SECTIONS OVERLAPPING AND SECURED TO THE FACE OF THE FLAG, SAID MIDDLE SECTION HAVING PLURAL SPACED SLOTS CLOSED BY THE END SECTIONS, EACH SLOT HAVING A DIMENSION BETWEEN THE END SECTIONS AND TRANSVERSE TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE STAFF APPROXIMATELY THE SAME AS THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE STAFF, SAID SLOTS THEREBY EXPOSING A SUBSTANTIAL PART OF SAID STAFF PORTION AND ITS CONTENTS TO VIEW, AND CLOSURE MEANS FOR CLOSING THE ENDS OF THE STAFF, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID CLOSURE MEANS BEING CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO ALLOW SELECTIVE READY ACCESS TO SAID CONTENTS. 